.. just wondering, how many of you surprise wildlife while riding back on the trail?

A few weeks ago in the Tellico Off-Road Area, descending trail #5 around dusk, I met a 4 - 5 year old black bear in a hair-pin turn .3 of a mile above where the trail crosses the Tellico River.

I stopped, ... it stopped ... we both stared ... and I appreciate the fact that the critter turned and went over the side of the narrow trail and down the mountain.

You know, reverse gear isn't very fast on these things and we all have fumbled for that little red button and not squeezed the brake lever firmly enough; and there was little room to even think about turning around.

I've wondered what might have happened if the bear hadn't turned ..

... and the best I can think of is, I didn't have to outrun the bear, only outrun my buddy.

 

Greetings,

We had a good discussion of this about a month ago in the Hunting, Farming, and Outdoors forum. I had surprised a few dear in a field and they just acted curious. They even trotted after me a bit to check it out.

In general, I run up on turkeys and deer all the time. They don't seem to recognize a person on a quad as a person. Sort of like the Astec's -- when they first saw a man on a horse, they thought it was a four legged giant man, they had no way of differentiating the man from the horse. End of today's anthropology lesson.

 

In our neck of the woods, the most happened upon critter is the Moose. Most times of the year this quite alright, but during the rut a big Bull Moose can be an ornery son of a gun and they don't make reverse fast enough to get out his way at a charge. Can't imagine what would be worse, getting chewed up by a surprised Grizzly or stomped and gored into the ground by a peaved Bull Moose. Good thing we don't have grizzlys here. Black bears...seen a few , but they high tail it as soon as they see you. Not too many deer, lots of Ruffed Grouse and Rabbits.

 

Here in Southern Ohio, we see alot of deer and turkeys. Seen a fox a few times and a coyote once, but no bears as of yet, thank goodness.


2000 Rancher
The Orange Crush

 

while rideing i just see deer and cougar. but when Bow hunting I turned around to see a black bear walking toward me. It is illigal to carry a pistol when bow hunting so I shot a arrow at it, missed and the thing went up a tree. I ran to the quad and got out of there pretty fast

 

We have seen elk & deer. We came up on the deer while eating, scared us both, I ran off the trail & into the black berry bushes, OUCH! The elk was a couple of hundred feet away.

We are still looking for bear, cougars, & big foot!

 

Usually, deer run when they hear us coming. Some times they will stand and watch us go by. Haven't seen elk or black bear, yet. Night riding is a real treat, so we do it when ever we can. Hoping the bear are far from the trail but looking to see what ever is willing.
Chuck, Suzuki KQ 300, GPS & lunch...

 

We see alot of deer here as well. We also see alot of snakes. One guy went into a big hole of mud and water and when he came out a snake was wrapped around his foot peg. I believe I would have "de-***-ed" the four wheeler, but he just kicked it off and kept on going.
I ride alot in the beautiful state of West Virginia (mom's original home) we see alot of wildlife up there. Deer, turkey, skunks, etc.
My brother ran up on a black bear this summer. He said the bear just walked up the hillside. I'm looking forward to seeing one myself.(at a distance) ha ha

'90 TRX 300 FW (still going)
Super winch
High lifter kit

 

down here where i live i was riding on a trail on my 400ex(goin at a pretty good speed too) and all of a suden a big a$$ owl jumped up right in front of me. luckily i was wearing a helmet because the stupid thing flew right in to me. luckily i didnt hurt the thing. sure scared me though haha

 

Deer are probably the biggest site to see around here, and usually when you ride up on the ones near a heavily traveled trail they kind of just stand and look at you. They aren't really scared of the noise of a quad anymore I guess.

Other than that we are starting to see a few elk from time to time on very rare occasions. They just re-introduced them to the area a few years ago so there aren't that many. Then just the normal snakes, turkeys, and bobcats.